Daily Archives: August 12, 2005

With their 6-5 victory over the Rangers last night, the Yankees have now participated in five straight one-run games, going 3-2 in that stretch. The Yankees are 7-5 in one-run games since the All-Star break and 16-12 (.571) in one-run contests on the season, a pretty solid record. Still it sure would be nice if they’d win a laugher every now and again.

Last night the problem was Al Leiter, who threw 125 pitches (only 54 percent strikes) through just five innings, allowing three earned runs on seven hits and three walks. Derek Jeter was part of the problem as well as, with two outs and the bases loaded in the bottom of the second, Jeter bobbled a Michael Young grounder, then threw wide of Robinson Cano at second, picking up a pair of errors and allowing a pair of runs to score in the process. Fortunately, Jeter was also part of the solution, hitting the first pitch from reliver C.J. Wilson, who replaced an even less effective Chris Young, for what proved to be the game-winning home run in the bottom of the fourth. In a complete reversal of Thursday night’s game, the Yankee bullpen sparkled as Felix Rodriguez, Wayne Franklin, Tanyon Sturtze (picking up the save) and, in a creative bit of managing by Joe Torre, Shawn Chacon on his throw day, combined to allow just three baserunners across four scoreless innings to nail down the win.

The Rangers are calling up Juan Dominguez to start today’s game against Mike Mussina. Dominguez will be making his first major league start of the year. No word yet on how they’ll make room for the 25-year-old righty on the roster.

Pardon Our Crumbs

Some of you may have noticed the service problems we experienced on Wednesday and Thursday. We apologize for that, but hope that you understand that Baseball Toaster and its support software Fairpole have been created from scratch and there are still a few kinks to work out. The good news is that part of the reason for the mid-week down time was that our Creator, Ken Arneson was working on a way to get this site to load faster and work more efficiently, which is good news for everybody, but especially those of you with slower connections.

Unfortunately, now that we’re back up and running smoothly, Bronx Banter is going to have to go into quasi-hibernation over the weekend as both Alex and I are going to have some difficulty getting on-line for a variety of reasons. The first casualty of this was a game-wrap for last night’s 9-8 win over the Rangers, a game which combined a sparkling performance from emergency starter Scott Proctor (three hits and no walks in five innings, three strikeouts and 71 percent of just 76 pitches for strikes), a collapse by the key members of the Yankee bullpen (Alan Embree, Felix Rodriguez, Tanyon Sturtze and Tom Gordon, who combined to allow five runs on six hits and four walks in just 2 2/3 innings, the big blow being a three-run homer by Michael Young of Sturtze in the fifth), a game-winning home run by Derek Jeter, and yet another dominant outing by Mariano river, picking up a four-out save the day after pitching two-innings against the White Sox.

Prior to last night’s Yankee victory, the Yankees and Rangers were tied 3-3 in their season series, each team having taken two of three in the other’s ballpark. That the road team won the previous two series between these teams is a bit fluky, as both teams are significantly better at home. Having dropped series to the Indians and White Sox already this month, the Yankees have to hope that probability wins out in the current set as, with one victory already in the bag, it would behoove them to take two of the remaining three.

As for the Rangers themselves, I couldn’t believe my eyes when I assembled the Texas roster prior to yesterday’s game, but Michael Kay confirmed it during the YES broadcast: the Rangers are carrying thirteen pitchers, limiting themselves to a three-man bench. Earlier in the year I was dismayed by the number of American League teams that were carrying twelve pitchers and a four-man bench (nearly all of them), but this is just stunning.

Worst of all, it’s not as if the Rangers have a Chone Figgins or Ryan Freel on their bench. They have a 39-year-old catcher who hasn’t posted an on-base percentage above .310 since 2000 or a slugging percentage above .410 since 1999, a rookie futility infielder, and Passaic’s own Mark DeRosa,, a career .266/.318/.371 hitter. Meanwhile, among their thirteen pitchers are the ghosts of James Baldwin and Steve Karsay. Yes, the Rangers have a formidable every-day line-up, but I find it hard to believe that their minor league system is so barren that it couldn’t provide the big club with a single hitter that would be a more valuable part of this team than James Baldwin, who is with his seventh team of the last five years.

Tonight Al Leiter will attempt to justify Joe Torre’s decision to send Aaron Small to the bullpen, while the 6’10” Dallas native Chris Young takes the hill for the Rangers.

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